Heat-treatment apparatus



Oct. 7 1924.

W. G. PERKINS HEAT TREATMENT APPARATUS Filed Deo. 26, 1922 @l @VMM/.rw @www W5 @om Patented Oct. 7, i924.

WALTER G. 4PERKINS, or LONDON, ENGLAND.

HEAT-TREATMENT APPARATUS.

Application filed December 26, 1922. Serial No. 609.167.

To all whom t may conce/rn:

Be it known that I, WALTER G. PERKINS, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at London, E. C., England, have invented a ne7 and useful Heat-Treatment Apparatus, of Which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to heat treatment apparatus which maybe ,used in connection with any apparatus for carrying on any kind of industrial process, for example, a chemical method with which heat is necessary; the invention may also be applied advantageously merely to facilitate a cooling operation being effected upon any product. The general object of the invention is to provide simple means for controlling such apparatus so as to enable its internal temperature to be regulated. In some types of industrial apparatus a rotary drum is employed, the end of which projects into the interior of a casing; itis usually necessary to pack the joint where the drum passes into the casing, and Where high temperatures are maintained inthe interior of the drum andcasing it is diicult to prevent the high temperature from injuring the packing; one of the objects of my invention is to provide means for protecting such packing and for reducing the injurious effect of the heat upon it. As applied to apparatus for reducing' copper ores, one of the objects of the invention is to provide simple means for controlling the internal temperatures .of the drum in which the reducing reactions take place; also to provide means for controlling the temperature of delivery of the ore or material from the drum. The invention may be applied to an apparatus which is intended primarily or merely to el'ect a quick cooling of a. product, and as applied to such an apparatus one of my objects is to provide simple means for controlling and accelerating the cooling effect. As applied to apparatus embodying a rotary drum disposed with its axis inclined, one of my objects is to provide means for cooling a zone or zones on the wall of the drum, and to provide means for insuring substantial uniformity in the cool-l ing effect throughout the cooled Zone; and if desired the cooled zone may extend throughout the entire length of the drum. Another object is to provide simple means for locally cooling a rotary drum to protect the bearings on which the drum rotates.

The invention consists in the novel partsand combination of parts to be described hereinafter, all of which contribute to-producean eflicient heat treatment apparatus.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following .specification While the broad scope of the invention is pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing- Figure lis a longitudinal central section through apparatus embodying my invention, certain parts being broken away.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken about on the line 2`-2, of Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken about on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Apparatus for carrying out an industrial process mayv include an elongated member l which may be in the form of. a rotary drum into one lend of which materials are fed, and in which a step of an. industrial process, or a chemical reaction may be effected, incidentally to which a high temperatureA must be maintained within the. drum and which it may be necessary to control. Such a drumI is frequently mounted with its axis slightly inclined to a horizontal line. Apparatus of this kind vmay be usedV advantageously for practicing the process of treating copper ores Vor the like, which is fully set forth in- British Patent No. 185,242 of April 8th, 1922, issued to myself and others. As an illustration *ofl the application of my invention to apparatus for practicing that process, I shall now described. its features more in detail.

The drum l is mounted` for rotation on suitable supporting bearings 2 and 3 and the upper end or receiving mouth of the drum is mounted to rotate in the wall of a casing 4. In order to prevntleakage where the end of the drum projects through the Wall 5 of this casing,- it is necessary to provide for packing the joint. Where the axis ofthe drum is greatly inclined itis preferable to incline the Wall 5 slightly so that this wall lies in a plane substantially at right angles to the axis of the drum, and on the outside of the wall I provide a'seat plate 6 and a cover plate 7 Abetween which a collar 8 is located, said collar being carried loosely on the drum. vThe collar carries a stuffing box 9 provided with a gland 9la which packs the circumferential face of the end of the drum. A packing ring 6 is provided for the side of the collar. The collar 8 and packing ring 6a accommodate themselves to slight variations in alignment for the axis of the drum as it rotates. The collar and gland 9a do not rotate.

Provision is made for protecting this stufling box from the high temperature, and in order to do this I provide an annular guard 10 Which is preferably of tapered or conical form, the large end of the cone being secured to the Wall of the drum and the small end of the cone having an open! ing 11 constituting the real-charging mouth of the drum. lfn this Way a portion or zone 12 of the end of the drum is cut olf from immediate contact with the fire brick lining 13 of the drum and an annular insulating space 14 is formed between the zone 12 and the guard. ln other words the guard operates to screen this zone of the drums Wall from the heat emanating from the materials Within the drum.

While this guard operates to protect more or less the stufling box and packing ring 6a from the high temperature Within the drum, I prefer to provide means for cooling this zone to further reduce the injuri; ous effect of the temperature upon these parts. This cooling means about to be described may be used at this point, and if desired may be used also at any other predetermined point or zone on the drum to produce local cooling eects to protect the bearings on which the rotation of the drum occ-urs or to control the temperature existing Within the drum. ln the present instance ll provide Water cooling means 15 at this point lwhich may include a Water reservoir 16 carrying a Water bath under the drum, the Walls of the drum being provided With a plurality of buckets 17 which pick up the Water as the drum rotates and spill the same onto the exterior of the drum at this zone Which is to be cooled. l shall not describe this particular Water cooling device in detail, but will describe more' in detail the construction of a similar Water cooling device at another point on the length of the drum.

'llhe material, to be treated may be fed down the casing 4 and through bell valves 18 Which deliver toaa spout 19 extending through the charging mouth 11 of the drum.

The other end of the drum may be mounted in a casing 20, the Wall 21 of which Wi1lbe provided with packing means"` 22 similar to the stuiiing' box 9 and collar S already described in connection with thel wall 5 of the casing 4. If it is desirable or necessary to protect the packing means ,22 ll provide adjacent to it a Water cooling device 23. These Water cooling devices 15 and 23 may be of any suitable construc- `tion adapted to effect the feeding or raising of Water to spill the same on the Wall of the drum.

lif the nature of the process carried on maceta Within the drum is such as to render it desirable to control` the temperature at a predetermined point or zone in the drum l may provide one or more intermediate Water cooling devices such`as the device 24. rlhis Water cooling device may have substantially the same construction as the Water cooling device 23 but may be made of any length desired depending upon the length of the intermediate zone wherein it is desirable to effect the local cooling.

These Waiter cooling devices are preferably constructed in such a waythaitthe amount Yof Water which they deliver to the drum may be; controlled, and I shall nov` describe the preferred construction for the cooling device 23, referring especially to Figures 2 and 3, and assumingthe direction of rotation of the drum to be that indicated by the arrow in Figure 2. I provide the exterior of the drum with a plurality of buckets 25 which may be in the form of curved plates mounted between two circumferential Walls or shells 26 and 27 supported on the Wall ofthe drum.

The buckets are attached so that with this direction of rotation the will raise Water lfrom a Water bath maintained Within a Water reservoir 28 disposed under the drum. rl`he Walls 26 and 27 are constructed of grid Work or of plates provided with perforations 29 which permit the Water to flow down, and facilitate the spilling of the Water onto the Wall of the drum when the buckets become inverted in commencing their down- Ward movement. Where the axis of the drum is inclined, l prefer to provide special means for controlling the quantity of the Water raised by the buckets, one` of my objects being to provide for delivering a substantially uniform quantity of Water at all points along the zone being cooled and also to enable the quantity of water throughout the zone to be increased or diminished as desired to regulate thequantity of Water delivered and thereby control the cooling effect on the internal temperature in the, drum. In order to accomplish this l prefer to construct the buckets in circumferential units or rows 30. ln other Words the individual buckets are separated by annular dividing Walls 31. l also provide a unitary construction for the reservoir 28, that is to say, this reservoir is constructed in a plurality of units 28, 28h, which are disposed alongside of each other in the direction in`which the axis of the drum extends. l have illustrated simply two of :these unitary reservoirs but it should be understood thatjthcre may bc more or less of-them as may be desired. ln the present instance they are provided with a division Wall 32 having a concave upper edge 33 to maintain contact with an annular face 34. forming a part of the outer cir cumferential Wall 27 of the bucket construction. f

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Each of the unit reservoirs 28EL is provided with means for controlling the Water level within it. Any suitable means may be provided for regulating this water level. In

the present lnstanoe I simply provide an overflow pipe 35 Within the reservoir unit,`

the lower end of the pipe having a swivel neck 36 passing through the side wall of the reservoir and the upper end of this tube carries a bent indicating po-inter 37 which cooperates with a scale 38 011 the outer side of the reservoir wall. This scale indicates the position and level of the mouth of the oveiiow pipe 35. By tipping the overl fiow pipe more'or less its mouth may be raised or lowered. thereby regulating the water level.

It should be understood that fthe Water cooling device 24 may 'have as many of these unit. reservo-irs as desired. Of course the buckets which are further do-Wn the drum would raise more Water than the buckets further up the drum, if the Water level were the same, but by maintaining the water level for them lower than the. level in the otherA reservoir unit the water supplied by the two sets of buckets can be substantially equalized. It it is desired to supply an increased amount of water, ift; is merely necessary to adjust. the overliow pipes to give a higher level in the different reservoir units.

In the use of such apparatus for treating copper ores a gas may be admitted t0 the casing 20 at the point 39 so as to iow through the drum and co-me in contact with the ore, enabling a reaction to take place at some point Within the drum. My invention enables me to control temperatures within lthe drum to facilitate such a reaction.

In some industrial processes a rotary drum mav be employed from-which the hot material is delivered directly into the atmosphere and in some cases it is desirable to reduce the temperature before delivering the material in this way. My invention enables this to be accomplished by providing a water cooling device at the deliveryfmouth of the drum, the length of the cooling device being suitable to effect the desired temperature reduction; in other words the delivery end of the drum would have a cooled zone sutliciently long to enable the material rto be delivered from the drum at any desired temperature. Under such circumstances the casing 20 would be omitted. In the present instance, however, the casing 2O is represented as delivering material onto an endles belt or conveyor 40. My invention enables copper ore to be delivered at a low enough temperature to prevent any possi-bility of theA oreA becom ing reoxidized in the atmosphere.

lVater may be supplied lto the reservoir units 28a through suitablevalved pipe connections 41, see Figure 2.

The drum may be rotated by any suitable means, for example, by means of a large ear 42 meshing with a pinion, not illustrate( Obviously my coolingappar'atus may be used Jfor cooling cement in a rotary drum.

' A hood 43 may be provided over eac-h water cooling device for carrying off the steam generated by the heart.

The lire brick lining would, of course, be discontinued at any zone which is -to be cooled. l

It is to be understood that the vembodiment of the invention described herein is only one of the many embodiments this invention may take and Ido not wish to be limited in the practice of my invention norin my claims lto the particular embodiment set forth.

What I claim is:r

1. In apparatus for carrying out a process of heat. treatment of materials the combination of a rotary drum for sustaining a high internal temperature, an a-nnularguard carried by the drum and operating to screen a. zone of the wall of the drum -t'rom the heat emanating from the materials within the drum, and a stuffing box tor the drum at the said zo-ne. l

2. vIn appara-tus for carrying out a process of heat treat-ment ot materials the combination of a fixed casing, a rotary drum communicating with the interior of the casing and having its end received in a wall of the casing, an annular guard within the drum, near the wall of Ithe casing, operating to screen a zone of the wall of the drum adjacent the casing from the heat emanating from the material within the drum, and a stuiling box receiving the end of the drum at the screened zone, where the end of the drum enters the casing. f f

3. In apparatus for carrying out a proc ess of heat treatment ot' materials the combination of a fixed casing, a rotary drum communicating with the interior of the casing and having its end received in a Wall of the casing, an annular guard within, the drum, near the wall of the casing operating to screen a zone of the wall'of the drum adjacent the casing from the heat emanating from the material within the drum. and a stuting box receiving the end ot the drum at the screened zone, where the end of the drum enters the casing, a collar carried by the end of the drum adjacent to the said wall, and packing meansy adjacent the collar and the face of the wall.

4. In apparatus forcarrying out a process ofv heat treatment of materials the combination of a fixed casing, a rotary drum communicating with the interior of the casing and having its end received in a Wallof the casing, an annular guard Within the drum near the wall ofthe casing, operating to screen a zone of .the walll ofthe drum adjacent thecasing trom the heat emanating from the material within the drum, and.

means located at the screened zone for feeding cooling Water upon the same.

5. ln apparatus for carrying out a process of heat treatment of materials the combination of a fixed casing, a rotary drum communicating with the interior of the casing and having its end received in a Wall of the casing, an annular guard Within the drum, near the wall of the casing, operating to screen a zone of the Wall of the drum 'adjacent the casing from the heat emanating from the material within the drum, a stutting box receiving t-he end of the drumbeyond the said guard.A a bearing for rotatably supporting the drum at a point spaced away fromy the wall of the casing and rotary Water-feeding means exterior to and rotating with the drum near the bearing for cooling the wall of the drum in the vicinity of the bearing.

6. ln apparatus for carryin out a process of heat treatment ot materials the combination of a fixed casing, a rotary drum communicating with the interior of the casing and having its end received in a Wall ot' the casing, an annular guard Within the drum near the Wall of casing, ope-rating to screen a zone of the Wall of the drum adjacent the casing from .the heat emanating from the material Within the drum, astui4 ing box receiving the end of the drum at the screened zone, a bearing for rotatably1 supporting the drum at a point spaced away from the Wall of the casing, and external. means carried by the Wall of the drum near said bearing for raising water as the ,drum rotates and 'spilling it over the exterior ot' the drum in the vicinity ot' said bearing.

7. ln apparatus for carrying out a process of heat treatment of materials, the combination of a fixed casing, a rotary drum communicating with the interior of the casing, and having its end received in a. wail of the casing, an annular guard within the drum, near the wall of the casing, operating to screen a zone of the Wall of the drum adjacent the casing from the heat emanating from the material within the drum, a stutting box receiving the endv ot' the drum where it enters the said walha bearing tor rotatably supporting the drum at a point spaced away from the wall of the casing', a plurality ot' buckets carried by the wall ot the drum near said bearing, and a water reservoir situated, beneath the drum l'or supplying water to the buckets as they rotate, said buckets operating to permit the water to How over the drum in the vicinity of the bearing. f

8. ln apparatus for carrying out a process of heat treatment of materials the combination of aiixed casing, a rotary drum communicating With the interior oi` the casing, and having its end received in wall o' the casing, an annular guard within the drum, near the Wall ofthe casing, operating to screen a zone of the Wall of the drum adjacent the casing from the heat emanating :from the material within the drum, a studing box receiving the end`of the drum Where i-t enters the said Wall, a bearing for rotatably supporting the drum at a point spaced away from the wall of the casing, a plurality of buckets carried by the Wall of the drum near said bearing and a Water reservoir situated beneath the drum for supplying water to the buckets asthey rotate, said buckets operating to permit the water to flow over the drum in the vicinity ot' the bearing, and a hood enclosing the drum at the buckets and operating to carry olf Water vapour or steam generated by the heat.

9. lln apparatus for carrying out a process oit heat treatment of materials the combination of a 'rotary drum for containing materials at a high temperature, a bearing for supportin the drum, a plurality of buckets carried by the Wall of the drum adjacent to the bearing, a Water reservoir be- .loW the drum adjacent to the bearing for supplying Water to the buckets as they rotate With the drum, said buckets operating to deliver their Water over the drum and cool the same in the vicinity of the bearing.

10. lln apparatus for carrying out a process of heat treatment of materials the co1nbination of a casing, a rotary drum communicating with the interior of the casing and having its end received Within a Wall ot' the casing, an annular tapering guard Within the drum having its edge secured to the Wall of the drum and havinoan opening at its small end, said small end being directed towards the casing, means for delivering material from the casing through the said opening, into the drum, said guard located near the Wall of the casing and operating to screen the end of the drum between the lguard and the casing from the heat emanating 'from the material Within the drum, and a stuffing box receiving the end of the drum adjacent the said Wall.

li. lin apparatus for carrying out a process of heat treatment of materials embodying a rotary drum in which a high temperature is maintained incidental to eiecting chemical reactions Within the drum, means for controlling the temperature Within the drum, comprising buckets carried by the drum and a Water reservoir containing a Water bath co-operating with the buckets to enable them to raise Water andspill the same on the outer surface of the drum, thereby cooling the drum in a Zone at a predetermined point on the same,

12. ln apparatus for carrying out a process of heat treatment of materials embodying a rotary drum in which a high temperature maintained incidental to efecting lll) chemical reactions Within the drum, means for controlling the temperature Within the drum, comprising buckets carried by the drum and a Water reservoir containing a Water bath co-operating with the buckets to enable them to raise Water and spill the same on the outer surface of the drum, thereby cooling the drum in a zone at a predetermined point on the same, and means for regulating the level of the Water in the reservoir to control the amount or" Water delivered over the drum.

13. in apparatus for carrying out a process of heat treatment of materlals embodying a rotary drum disposed With its axis inclined to a horizontal line and in Whicha high temperature is maintained Within the drum, means for controlling the temperature Within the drum comprising the combination of a plurality of buckets mounted circumerentia-lly around the drum, a Water reservoir below the drum and consistin of a plurality of units disposed side by si e in the directlon in which the drum extends and means for independently regulating the Water level in the different reservoir units to control. the amount of Water raised by the buckets, said buckets Operating to spill the Water on the outer surface of the drum.

14. In apparatus for carrying out a process of heat treatment of materials embodying a rotary drum in which a high temperature is maintained incidental to chemical reactions taking place Within the drum, means for controlling the temperature of delivery of material from the drum comprising the combination of a rotary Water raising device carried by the drum, having buckets for raising the Water and spilling 'the same on the surface of the drum, and a Water reservoir izo-operating with the buckets to supply Water to the same, said Water raising device being disposed near the delivery end of the drum. l

15. ln apparatus for carryingl out a process of heat treatment of materials, the combination of a rotatable drum through Which the material is passed, a reservoir for Water below the drum and rotatable Water-raising means which dip into the reservoir, raise Water continuously therefrom during rotation of the drum and distribute it over a zone of the drum so as to secure continuous uniform cooling of that zone.

Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 11th day of December 1922.

WALTER G. PERKINS. 

